Sexton and Trimble in for Ireland

Jonathan Sexton and Andrew Trimble have been named in the Ireland team to face England at the Aviva Stadium this weekend.

Sexton will replace Ronan O’Gara at out half, while Andrew Trimble will come in on the wing, with Keith Earls moving to full back and Luke Fitzgerald missing out on the squad entirely.

Those changes aside, the matchday 22 remains the same as it was for the 19-13 defeat to Wales in the Millennium Stadium last weekend. Eoin Reddan has been deemed fit enough to start after suffering concussion against Wales and will partner Leinster colleague Sexton at half back.

Commenting on his decision to drop Fitzgerald and bring in Ulster winger Trimble, Kidney said: “If Luke has made any errors lately it’s probably because he’s tried too hard.

“He’s probably just been over stretching himself ever so slightly and his timing has been a small bit off and I think Andrew has been knocking on the door and Keith [Earls] is in good form so it’s a good combination for us to have this weekend.”

With Trimble coming in, Fergus McFadden, who excelled against Italy and France earlier in the competition, has been excluded yet again, but Kidney put that decision down to Trimble’s form rather than any wrongdoing on McFadden’s part.

“Andrew was showing great form coming up to the Six Nations, going really well for Ulster and got an unfortunate bang,” Kidney added.

“Fergus was in great form, got called in, played a couple of A matches and played very well in those.

“Then Andrew worked his way back in through training, played Magners League matches and Fergus played very well in the first two but over the intervening period Andrew has worked his way back through matches with Ulster.”

Jonathan Sexton has reclaimed the number ten jersey from Ronan O’Gara after the Corkman started the last two matches. O’Gara was man of the match against Scotland in Murrayfield and had been playing well against Wales until he was withdrawn early in the second half.

Explaining his reasoning behind that decision, Kidney said: “We’re blessed with two good 10s, like I’ve always said.

“In the same way as I felt after the French game that it was right to give Ronan a go at the next two, I think Jonathan deserves his shot now.”

Ireland’s clash with England kicks off at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday at 5pm.

Ireland: Keith Earls, Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Andrew Trimble, Jonathan Sexton, Eoin Reddan, Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Sean O’Brien, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Tom Court, Leo Cullen, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Ronan O’Gara, Paddy Wallace